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Official Favorite Series Thread

Hello, everyone, and welcome to the only thread you can discuss and (civilly) debate about your opinions about the Pokemon anime's, somewhat "distinct", halves.

These distinct halves are commonly known as "OS" (Original Series) and Post-Johto. As you may have seen, we've implemented a new banned topic concerning the discussion of this seemingly endless debate over which one is better. This is the ONLY thread in which you may discuss and perhaps even divulge into some kind of light-hearted debate over the issue.

Now, some ground rules:

1: Obviously all forum-wide and Pokemon Anime Section rules apply.
2: Respect other's opinions. It is obvious we have distinct groups of people who think one series is better than the other. You MAY NOT attack said people about their opinion. However, you may ask them to elaborate their reasonings and have friendly, negative arguments about it (aka debate). ONLY participate in a debate if you are willing to DEFEND your ideas and reasoning. If you believe it's a matter of taste, then debate is not for you. However, this is not a debate thread - it's only being restrictly allowed here because I know there are a few jumping out of their pants to debate it.
3. No bashing of characters, human or Pokemon, or events. There's a difference between saying, since I KNOW it will come up, "Misty did virtually nothing in comparison to (name of other girl) because X, Y, and Z" and "Misty sucked because X, Y, Z". One is a statement and the other is an attack.
4. Explain your opinions. If you believe one series is better than another, you need to give a reason. There is a lot of material in the anime, you MUST have a reason. "Just liking it" will prompt those itching for a debate to ask you to elaborate, and because it's in these rules, I'm allowed to infract you. If you really have no reason, answering the poll shall suffice.
5. Don't complain about the poll choices. I didn't put "don't watch the series" because that's silly in this forum.
6. And of course, do not make other threads concerning this topic. It's sticky, it's got a handy-dandy poll, and it'll soon be stuffed with both side's reasonings. There is now no reason to open another topic about this in any shape or form.

I will be in the thread debating as well, so remember, if you guys screw this up and I have to close this thread, the discussion will be allowed no where. Enjoy, have fun!

Encyclopika:
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Is on Fanfiction.net.Need a moveset for a specific Pokemon for a specific contest? PM me!
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AG DP and BW are the same? Wait are they? I mean the battles and animation are way different then Kanto and Johto but never knew they were all in the same series. Interesting. Anyway I prefer Hoenn and onward over Kanto due to them following the game better

There's a tyrant king with a reptile heart
And he's started a wave of crime now
From his ship high above he abducted my love
For the fourteenth or fifteenth time now

I think AG, DP, and BW should be in different categories.
Anyways I think that all the series are good and have their own "style". I'd have to say that my favorite series are AG and DP because of the story plots they give us and the female companions, May and Dawn are focused on more and the sidequest contests were introduced and used in these 2 series, plus I like how the battles were in AG and DP, with alot of action going on. Plus May's rivals and Ash's rivals in DP were handled pretty well and so were the DP villians, Hunter J and Team Galactic.

These 3 series are absolutely nothing alike, and they shouldn't be paired up just because they're all after the original series.

Agreed, personally I think the poll should say each Saga or Region (the region one including the Orange Islands and Battle Frontier).

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Personally, the OS has always been my favourite and not for nostalgia, the story, plots, captures and battles were great in my opinion and it's always held an atmosphere none of the other saga's have seemed to have, the emotional depth in the series always intrigued me too.

AG was definetly a nice refreshing start and was enjoyable, DP had a lot of interesting plots and development, and BW is doing really well with me at the moment, judging by how they treat the league and 'TR/TP' this could potentially be my second favourite saga.

I vote for the OS, and I have various reasons for it (I'll try to give examples to be more clear when I can come up with good ones), and there is much more than just nostalgia.
- More (slapstick) humor. Example: Tom Ato, Anne Chovy, Ceasar Salad and KetchupShipping in "Showdown at Dark City."
- Emotion, like Butterfree's departure.
- Misty, she's my favourite character.
- Brock and Ash were more fun in the OS, in my opinion.
- The battles, with less game mechanics (no abilities, for example, these didn't exist in the games back then).
- Not following the games strictly, the Orange Islands and the way the Whirl Islands (especially the Whirl Cup) were handled are good examples for that.

If I come up with more reasons, I'll add them to this post. There are probably many more reasons I forget to mention now.

"Calm down Misty, it was an EGGcident!" as Togepi was knocked out of sight.

I think that was funnier than Showdown in Dark City, it took something that could've been serious and made the entire scene into a complete joke, and I love it when Ash rips the piss out of other people.

AG's my favorite series, primarily because of the trio becoming a quartet, Ash having a great balance in regards to his maturity and the four of them having a much closer relationship than, ahem, the DP trio. However, Ash never had a solid rival in Hoenn nor the Kanto BF, but that can be overlooked in favour of May's Contests, Drew and Harley.

These 3 series are absolutely nothing alike, and they shouldn't be paired up just because they're all after the original series.

The thread was geared more towards the split we keep seeing in these derailed threads. I also believe we've had a thread before asking for which region people like more. We're still working out the kinks and the poll will be edited.

However, I'm pretty sure I asked that people NOT complain about the poll for a while, but it seems you lot have issues with rule-following. :/ Knock it off and get back on topic.

Encyclopika:
Made the banner
Is a GIRL. >.>;;
Has a deviantART account and a Tumblr
Is on Fanfiction.net.Need a moveset for a specific Pokemon for a specific contest? PM me!
Don't reply to my infractions. It's not gonna change anything.
Random friend requests do nothing. Let's actually talk first. >_<

Lol I don't watch this series (my way of saying I've read the rules XD)

I voted for "I like both" which honestly I do. When I was younger of course Pokemon felt more "magical" and "believable" and I relish OS because of that. However, I still love Pokemon today as well. While DP I got bored at the end, I would be lying to myself (and others) to say I disliked every little piece of it. XD I adored AG, it felt like a second OS to me (just I was a bit older and not all "...w-will Ash and Pikachu be ok?") So far I'm loving BW...so I guess I'm just a Pokemon anime fan. XDD I don't make decisions between OS/Post-Johto. ^^;

I love the diamond and pearl series because it focueses more widely on all the characters and I loved the contests, the pokemon, the characters, the villains and the plot! although I love all the series! AG comes seconds!

However, I'm pretty sure I asked that people NOT complain about the poll for a while, but it seems you lot have issues with rule-following. :/ Knock it off and get back on topic.

Come on, can you really blame them for being right?

Anyway, here are my top 4 series:

1) DP
2) AG
3) BW
4) OS

I'll review the series by order of date when they aired. I'll start with OS. At first, lke any other kid, I used to love Kanto and Johto. But years later, I decided to watch them again. Kanto had so much flaws, oh my god. And Johto, while it fixed some of these flaws, some of the filler gaps were painful.

Now, AG. Now this was a new series of pokemon, a new beginning, and it turned out to be for the better. The flaws that Johto fixed remained fixed and this saga also fixed Johto's own flaws. However, it wasn't perfect. Ash only had league rivals, and while people say that May's rivals made up for it, I don't agree with this. I didn't like Drew very much and while I love Harley, he could've showed up sooner.

Now, DP. Ash's pokemon were handled pretty well, in my opinion, but dam, the writers made Torterra look weak. Dawn's weren't mistreated either and Brock's could've been handled better, but Brock was overall a mishandled character in DP. Ash had probably the best rival in this show, but Dawn's could've been better. Oh well, at least, there was Ursula, but much like Harley, she could've appeared earlier. But the battles and the character development truly makes DP, in my opinion, the best saga.

BW. I don't like this saga very mcuh. It feels like we've taken steps backwards. I admit that at first, I was excited with the fast pace and team rotation, but in the end, we found out that these two things don't match. With a fast pace and more pokemon to handle, things end up getting shafted easily. I think that if we had a slower pace, pokemon like Swadloon and Unfezant probably wouldn't get so damn shafted.

Original series for me. Anime felt fresh and new at that time with writers experimenting with several things to determine which works or doesnt adding that extra flavor to show. This can be noticed in real guns being used in first season, Ash having crush on girls(like Giselle)etc. I liked wacky plots and humor Kanto and Johto(to lesser extent) used to have like St. Anne, Island of Giant pokemon,episode about giant Tentacruel, Gengar or Alakazam trying to destroy whole towns etc with writers sticking less to games adding more of their own personal touch.
Misty and Brock also played important role in here being like Ash coaches and mentors helping him to grow as trainer over course of OS while giving us insight in their own lives and past pursuing their own dreams. For instance Misty gradually grew in more mature and level headed character over time with various sides of her personality(beside only temper) being explored more still being quirky getting over complex of feeling less worthy compared to older sisters, and more confident in herself. While becoming better battler herself influencing plot on several occasions. Brock started to do steps forward in his breeder career receiving some development through various episodes, learning how to prepare medicines and pokemon food becoming more knowledgeable about raising pokemon and straightforward in approaching to girls.

Each episode felt fresh bringing something interesting within itself and rich mount of references to Japanese culture and less censoring was bonus too(although this led to certain episodes ending up banned).

This can be especially noticed during Orange Islands which was completely anime exclusive being set in different world giving us new approach to gym challenges and format of competitions Ash needed to pass, serving as nice break from usual routine of gyms being only about battles. Like shooting practice, making sculptures of ice, battling being mixed with dancing(in Rudy gym challenge at Trovita Island),for first time concept of tag battle being tried out etc. And battle between Drake and Dragonite was one of best battles this show had.

Johto while it may had many non plot related episodes most of them were actually entertaining delivering some humor. I like that Brock and Misty got more focus on development of their own dreams. Saga felt like continuation of Kanto with several throwbacks to past being included like return of Duplica, Aya, Todd or Ritchie. I liked various arcs we had there like Red Gyarados, Lugia, Larvitar, arc about Clair and Dragonite which guarded dragon temple. I also enjoyed in Whirl Cup being nice change of pace from usual gyms with some nice focus being put on Misty goal of water master defining it better introducing in Whirl islands ton of great water pokemon and trainers. There were also several great episodes introducing legendaries like Entei, Suicune, Zapdos, Lugia, Artuicuno etc. Battles were good though not to same level like they were later on(understandable considering animation and writing has changed).

Chemistry between original trio was arguably best out of all groups we had so far in pokemon having very close bond and strong friendship . Group of Ash,Misty and Brock played out very well having good dynamic and charming interaction. From Ashs naivete and stupidity, to Misty sarcastic remarks and funny moments of anger and caring side acting as push for Ash to be better when doubting in him to Brock figure of being like older brother to them providing his knowledge and tips in needed situations.
Great personalities, interesting chemistry and feeling of being like close friends are characteristics which made first group so great in my opinion. This bond continued to grow over the years with all three feeling like real group of friends which is having fun together exploring new world and pokemon as they opened put more to each other.

Departing episode at end of Johto only emphasized even more on how close they became to each other being sad to see them depart.

Now i liked Hoenn, DP and BW improving in some aspects, like battles becoming better, writers developing characters and story better,rivals being properly treated etc.

But in OS in my opinion pokemon used to have more emotion and personal touch put into it with writers straying away from game canon to significant degree with anime being more focused on prospect of adventure, there was more humor, more references to Japan culture and you could get feeling that pokemon wasnt so much subbed to game promotion having bigger individuality.

AG comes in second place though, with quartet of Ash,May,Max and Brock functioning well liking different kind of dynamic which was present between this characters with Ash becoming more mature becoming ready enough to take on mentor role to May with things changing up,and inclusion of Max served nicely too sharing many things in common with Brock which allowed for good character interaction.I also liked May contest arc having some great rivals(like Drew and Harly)and Jessie deciding to become coordinator was nice and unexpected change of pace.

I liked DP alot too. Ash finally got proper rival in form of Paul with their rivalry being played out nicely culminating with great finale and closure. Team Galactic group of villains was handled in more or less satisfying manner being definitely step up from travesty which Team Magma and Aqua received. Hunter J was possibly one of best villains this show had with writers finally learning how to handle antagonists correctly. Treatment of group pokemon was improved with their personalities coming out on surface more being given more screen time as well. We can notice that through rather big amount of episodes which were focused on pokemon training,practicing for appeals and exploration of their own personalities. Like it was case with Turtwig, Mamoswine, Ambipom, Croagunk, Chimchar etc.
And Dawn had good and realistic story giving viewers insight in her own personal problems and flaws character needed to deal with which allowed for some significant development.

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Well, I'm definitely going to go with season 1 for several reasons. Such as how well the original character trio came together and enjoyed much interaction and daring adventures. In my opinion, the key to a good story is good characters and they certainly pulled it off well.

Another reason is how well they balanced action and comedy. Throughout the season, the battles usually aren't too focused on, yet there are plenty of other chaotic events that are as humorous as they are exciting. This also ties in with the characters in a sense that they intertwined the humor into the characters personalities in addition to giving them great lines. I suppose that having been given good characters and amazing dialogue is what compels me to support the original voice cast.

But possibly the best reason is the virtues in the anime back then. There was always a huge focus on friendship, following dreams and adventures, helping one another in a difficult situation, and caring for other Pokemon and people, exploring and appreciating the world together. Not to say that's entirely gone today, but it still feels greatly overshadowed by the battling, rivalries, stereotypical villians, etc. I don't think TPC knows hardly at all what they are doing with their characters or dialogue either. The times have changed; Pokemon doesn't feel like it has much of a soul anymore. It doesn't feel passionately crafted to carve its own niche in the television industry today. I'm not going to call it horrible, but I feel that it should be something more and someday live up to the standards set in earlier seasons.

I support Save Our Voice Actors, a Pokemon fan group in favor of returning the voice actors in the anime dubbed by 4Kids (seasons 1-8). facebook.com/saveourvoiceactors